The Historical Record for November 22, 2008: The JFK and Friends Heavenly Hoedown

St. Peter and the rest of the bouncers manning the eternal velvet rope must have November 22 marked on their calendars.  The list of famous figures who passed away on this date is…varied? random? A helluva cocktail party? (But no drugs please, one of the guests is…sensitive.)

First of all, today is the 45th anniversary of JFK’s assassination in Dallas, TX.  I’d suspect he’d be holding court, by the bar, perhaps sharing a cigar with Edward (Blackbeard) Teach (1718). JFK might not have minded Blackbeard’s more…whimsical qualities (they are after all both charming rogues with a naval background) but Commissioner Lin Zexu (1850), he of opium suppression fame, would probably not approve.  The literary world would be well-represented with Jack London (1916) and two other guests, C.S. Lewis and Alduous Huxley, whose timing might present a problem, showing up as they did in the same lift as JFK.  (One can only wonder at the conversation that took place in the queue on November 22, 1963.  The boys at The Gate must have had quite the time sorting out that trio.)

On November 22, 1980 (much to the delight of President Kennedy, who we know had a thing for buxom blonds)

November 22nd, 2008

Must Read: Pepsi in Xinjiang

Not since Michael Jackson’s combustible hair gel has the shoot for a Pepsi ad been so ill-conceived.

At the beginning of the ad, the Chinese fans would be interspersed between the international fans, but losing badly to the foreigners. The roars of the international crowd silenced their cheers for the Chinese national team. Then, the two Chinese pop stars flew in (literally, with the help of two really cool stunt men from Beijing) on cue to rally the Chinese crowd with Pepsi. With the arrival of Pepsi and the very attractive Chinese pop stars (with all the usual fanfare of a recent Zhang Yimou film), the Chinese crowd simultaneously had an epiphany and collectively realized that in order to beat the evil foreigners they needed to rally together behind Pepsi.

And it gets better and better. One part anthropological observation, one part David Sedaris essay. All of it a must read.

November 20th, 2008

G. William Skinner: A Personal Remembrance

I’ve been waiting to write this post as I just wasn’t sure how to say what I wanted to say.  Sadly, Professor G. William Skinner passed away on October 26, 2008.

There were students who knew Professor Skinner better than I did, his teaching career spanned over half a century, but I had the privilege to be a student in the last few seminars taught by this giant in the field of Chinese history and anthropology.  Giant. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot when talking of the great figures in a particular field, but in the case of Professor Skinner one wonders if the word is a bit limiting. 

Bill Skinner (literally) changed the way we look at China. Daniel Little at The China Beat has a solid and comprehensive review of Professor Skinner’s many and lasting scholarly contributions which I won’t repeat here.  Suffice to say, Professor Skinner’s work on marketing systems and urban hierarchies provided historians with a new approach to thinking about China in terms of spatial relationships.  His research into the economic orientation of China’s macroregions redrew the map (how many of us will ever be able to say that?) and created new ways of organizing data and

November 18th, 2008

The Historical Record for November 17: Happy Birthday, Sima Guang

Today is the birthday of Song Dynasty über-historian Sima Guang,* born November 17, 1019, compiler and author of voluminous works including the Zizhi Tongjian (“Comprehensive Mirror on the Government”), a historical tour de force with 294 volumes and 3 million characters chronicling over a millennium of history. 

—–

* Same surname, but not to be confused with the Han Dynasty Grand Historian Sima “You want to cut what off, now?” Qian. 

November 17th, 2008

Guangxu on NPR

NPR ran a story yesterday on the 100th anniversary of the death of the Guangxu Emperor.  The report features interviews with historian Joseph Esherick, Zhu Chenru, deputy director of the National Committee for the Compilation of Qing history, and Jin Yuzhang, who is Guangxu’s nephew’s nephew, the oldest male in his generation, and, as such, would have been in line for the throne if Cixi hadn’t messed with the line of succession (again).  God bless him…Jin seems pretty suibian about the whole “missing out at a shot to be the son of Heaven” thing:

“He wanted to change the country for the better. And in the end, he sacrificed his life for the sake of national unity and social progress,” Jin says.

Jin doesn’t believe that his ancestor’s death changed the course of Chinese history.

“The Qing dynasty was already at its end,” he says. “If the reforms had been successful, it might have lasted a few years longer. But the feudal society didn’t fit the needs of the times.” And, echoing the words of Communist leader Mao Zedong, he concludes, “If you don’t destroy the old world, you can’t build a new world.”

Louisa Lim–whose husband apparently runs one

November 15th, 2008
 
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